


At the Speed of Healing

by HarpforHim



Series: In a Angst-Ridden Galaxy Far, Far Away... Whumptober 2020 [2]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Prequel Trilogy, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt Obi-Wan Kenobi, Naboo - Freeform, No. 12: Broken Down, Obi-Wan Kenobi Needs a Hug, Obi-Wan returns to Naboo, Protective CC-2224 | Cody, Whumptober 2020
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-12
Updated: 2020-10-12
Packaged: 2021-03-07 18:29:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,301
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26972188
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HarpforHim/pseuds/HarpforHim
Summary: “I was too slow, Cody. Why am I always too slow?”After winning a victory for the Republic on the lush planet of Naboo, Cody discovers the battle is far from over.A short one-shot in which Obi-Wan returns to the location of his Master’s death, leaving his commander to pick up the pieces.Written for Whumptober Day 12: Broken Down
Relationships: CC-2224 | Cody & Obi-Wan Kenobi, No Slash - Relationship
Series: In a Angst-Ridden Galaxy Far, Far Away... Whumptober 2020 [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1967068
Comments: 10
Kudos: 194





	At the Speed of Healing

**Author's Note:**

> I’m still here and going strong for Whumptober! We’ll see how long it will last. XD
> 
> Day 12: Broken Down

It had been hours since the battle.

 _Squirmish_ , _more like,_ Cody thought with a frown. Naboo had somehow avoided Separatist attention throughout the course of the war… until about five standard days ago, and even then, it hadn't taken much to defeat the attack force stationed around the capital city of Theed.

It was only after the battle that Cody learned of the high regard in which the people of Naboo held their celebrations.

 _Because a celebration is_ _ **exactly**_ _what we need right now._ The commander surveyed his troops. Even the staunchest party animals looked as though they would rather be back on the _Negotiator_ and on their way to the next campaign.

Which begged the question of _when?_ When were they set to take off again? How much longer must they endure the praise and well-wishes of the grateful people of Naboo?

"Commander." Waxer's voice broke through Cody's irritated train of thought.

"Lieutenant," he acknowledged with a slight nod of the head.

"Have you seen the general? The men are, uh… _eager_ to be on their way, if you know what I mean."

At this, Cody couldn't help but smirk. "What? Are they tired of excessive free food and alcohol already?"

"There _isn't_ any alcohol, sir."

"And rightly so."

"I'm afraid not many of the boys share your viewpoint, sir."

Sighing, Cody scanned the large courtyard once more, only to come up empty. Again.

_Blast it, General? Where are you?_

"Sir? Should I send out a search party for him?"

It was no secret to everyone but General Kenobi himself that the 212th Attack Battalion had grown quite protective of the commanding officer. And as tempting as Waxer's offer sounded, Cody had no intention of embarrassing his general by scouring the capital for the missing Jedi.

"There's no need for that." _Yet._ Cody tapped his comlink, hailing the general's frequency in seconds. "General Kenobi? This is Commander Cody, do you copy? General? _General Kenobi,_ do you—"

_So, we're playing_ _**that** _ _game, are we?_

Another sigh, this time coming from Waxer.

Opening the channel to an all-encompassing radius, Cody continued, "Does anyone have eyes on the general?"

A chorus of _negative_ s and a few weary _no_ s were pierced by Boil's eternally snarky tone.

"Saw him head towards the Palace Main Hangar."

"When?"

Boil's disembodied voice hummed with careless thought. "Oh, it had to have been over an hour ago… Sir."

Ignoring the lazily tacked on ending, Cody forced his mind not to spin. _What on earth would he be doing_ _ **there**_ _, of all places?_

Knowing his general, the man had probably gotten overwhelmed by all the praise and thanks, retreating to a secluded corner for the remainder of the party.

With a nod that went unseen by the brother on the other end of the comm, Cody gave his orders. "Tell the men to start rounding up. We're heading out in less than thirty minutes."

"Where are you gonna go?" Boil's question was mirrored on Waxer's face—most of the _vode_ had shed their buckets long ago.

Cody pursed his lips. "Where do you think?"

His journey to the main hangar changed quickly from a walk to a jog to an all out _run_ as time was fast in slipping through his fingers. Every step filled him with dread for reasons he couldn't seem to pinpoint.

This feeling was further heightened when he arrived in the hangar only to find it devoid of any sentient beings.

_Kriff._

Then, he noticed the doorway, a large, gaping opening in the back of the bay. Beyond it, a seemingly endless corridor.

And something told him _that's_ where his general had wandered off to. _Splendid._

What appeared to be some sort of main power plant awaited him at the end of the hall. Another short jog or two brought him further into the bowels of the plant.

Then, he caught sight of him. A lone, familiar figure standing at the end of a hall.

A series of ray shields separated Commander from General, burning an angry red that seemed to taunt Cody from afar.

Waiting was all he could do, and soon, the ray shields deactivated and he picked up his pace once more.

"Run, Cody."

Though startled by his general's sudden command, Cody wasted no time in obeying. He had barely made it halfway down the hall when the shields fired up again, trapping him between two fizzing walls of red.

Stunned at his own failure, Cody found himself bouncing on his heels in his impatience to get to his general. After what seemed like an eternity, the shields dissolved once more and he dashed into the circular chamber, stopping just behind an unusually stoic General Kenobi.

Only somewhat out of breath, Cody took a few tentative steps towards his general, who remained stock still, his back facing the hall of shields.

"I'm afraid there isn't much time in between cycles." His general's voice was the dullest Cody had ever heard come out of the normally jovial Jedi. Dull and the slightest bit… _bitter?_ _Guilty?_

Cody cleared his throat. "The warning was appreciated, sir."

Obi-Wan didn't move, choosing instead to stare at the gaping pit that spread out before them.

"I've ordered the men to prepare for departure," he continued, trying in vain to get a response from the man.

Nothing but a nod was his general's return.

"We're just… uh…" Cody cleared his throat. "We're just waiting on you, sir. Are you…" He watched as the Jedi wrapped his crossed arms tighter around his midsection, Cody's summons dying on his lips. "Are you all right?"

Nothing. Cody resisted the urge to sigh and opened his mouth once more.

This time, however, Obi-Wan beat him to it.

"Is the party over already?" His voice seemed distant now, as if he wasn't truly there—as if his mind had traveled elsewhere hours ago. "I wasn't aware…"

"Sir, with all due respect, I don't think you're okay and I'd appreciate it if you'd tell me what's going on so we can get off this planet."

Cody could almost picture a ghost of a smile on his general's face. "I never said I was, Cody."

Refusing to be taken aback, Cody advanced slowly, cautiously.

"Sir… What can I do? How can I help?"

"I'm not so sure you can." Again, his voice seemed to float, to transcend their bodies and the spacious room that swallowed them.

"You haven't even given me a chance, sir."

Silence. A long, dragging silence passed between them, in which Cody not-so-patiently waited for his general to speak.

To say something— _anything._

Just when he'd begun to lose hope, a soft, broken voice echoed through the chamber.

"I wasn't fast enough."

A pang of apprehension struck Cody's chest and he had the sickening feeling that this story wasn't going to be a pleasant one.

"Uh… sir?"

"I couldn't make it through the shields in time to…" Obi-Wan cleared his throat. "Well, it's a long story and we have to go."

_Right._

Yet, his general remained rooted to the floor, showing no intentions of moving.

"Sir?" Cody cursed his voice for wavering, but he was growing more concerned by the minute. Something was definitely wrong, and while he was no Jedi, Obi-Wan's presence felt very _off._

"Sir?" He prompted again.

"The last time I fought a battle here, my Master and I were engaged in the liberation of Naboo from the Trade Federation." The Jedi's voice seeped with barely restrained emotion and Cody realized that if he himself were a Jedi as well, he wouldn't be hearing this story. _You're a soldier, a Clone. You're_ _ **safe.**_

" _You're safe, Cody,"_ he recalled his general admitting not too long ago. _"You won't remind me of the Code or tell me to be mindful of my feeling…_

" _You'll just…_ _ **listen.**_ _"_

"Somewhere along the way," his general continued, "we were caught up in a duel with a Sith—the first in over a thousand years."

Cody waited for him to go on, trying not to focus on the light sniffles coming from his Jedi.

"Somehow, we ended up here. I was trapped behind the last barrier while my Master fought the Sith Lord." He heard Obi-Wan swallow. Hard. "Master Qui-Gon was a great Jedi. Strong in the Living Force and nearly unbeatable with a lightsaber."

 _Nearly…_ Cody noted and his heart seized. He moved closer to his general.

"But the Sith had a double-bladed saber…"

A longer silence passed this time, leading Cody to believe that Obi-Wan had lost his train of thought altogether.

"… General…?"

A choked sob preceded whatever his general was about to say, and Cody also noted that his fist flew up to press against his lips.

"He… He died in my arms, Cody… Right over there."

Cody's eyes flicked to the left and he forced his heart to keep beating. He had to stay strong…

But he'd never seen his general in such a state before.

And he wasn't entirely sure what to do.

 _Maybe he was right,_ he thought with a grimace. _Maybe I_ _ **can't**_ _help._

"If I had only been faster; ran harder— _tried_ harder."

Not particularly caring for the way his general's voice had begun to rise, Cody interjected quickly, "I'm sure you did everything you could, sir."

A chuckle bordering in hysterical pierced the air. "I don't think so, Cody. No, I don't… I didn't… I _couldn't… Kriff_ , I was so _young_. Too young to raise a child, too naive to be the sort of Master he needed. Too… Too _slow_ …"

He was shaking his head now at a furious speed, effectively sending shivers down Cody's spine.

"Why am I always too slow, too _late_?" It was a muttered thought that was directed more towards himself than at Cody, but it impacted the commander all the same.

And it prepared him at the very last minute to catch his collapsing general before his knees bashed against the floor.

Gently, he lowered Obi-Wan the rest of the way down, kneeling beside him, a steadfast anchor in a sea of pain.

He had never seen his general act in such a way—had never seen the man he looked up to most in the galaxy completely break down.

And he _was_ —breaking down, that is. Tears marred his face, creating tracks over his reddened cheeks.

"Why couldn't I save him, Cody? Why did he have to die? And why did _I_ have to be the one who killed him?"

"You didn't kill him, sir," Cody soothed in a time he didn't know he could achieve.

"I practically stabbed him in the gut," Obi-Wan insisted bitterly. "My inability to reach him, to back him up, _killed_ him!"

"Now wait just a minute, General." Obi-Wan didn't lift his gaze from the floor, but Cody could tell he was listening. "Saying that you had a hand in your Master's death is like telling me I'm responsible for every man I lose on the field just because I'm the one who put a gun in their hand and a command in their head."

A sniffle, but Cody wasn't done. "There are just some things we can't be held responsible for. I'm sure your Master did his very best to defend himself, but everything that happened in this room was _not_ your fault."

A beat, and then Obi-Wan's soft voice filled the space between them. "I know. Only… being here again, reliving the memory… I don't know, Cody, I thought I'd gotten past all this. All this… this _guilt_."

Cody's reply was soft. "Why'd you come down here, sir? Why put yourself through the pain?"

"I…" Obi-Wan sucked in a shuddering breath. "I had to see if I could make it through."

Oh. _Oh…_

_Kriff._

Had his general been wearing himself out for the past who-knows _-how_ -long trying to run through the shields in a single, uninterrupted dash?

_Kriff…_

"Sir, _I_ couldn'teven make it through," he began, treading lightly. "I doubt there's a human alive who can."

"Which explains why I couldn't… Even now, more than ten years later, I'm still too slow."

"With your permission, might I ask: was your Master able to make it through?"

At this, Obi-Wan blinked. _Hard._

Then, with the slightest of movements, he shook his head.

_I didn't think so._

"Then why are you beating yourself up about something that happened more than a decade ago? With all due respect, of course, sir."

No reply, but then again, Cody hadn't really been expecting one.

"Sir… Is this the reason you didn't want the 501st to take this mission, like we'd originally planned?"

Another delayed nod. _Oh, General, why do you do this to yourself?_

"I'll be fine," Obi-Wan declared after awhile, clearly trying to convince himself of this fact. "I'll be fine. I'm sorry, I'll… I'll be… I _am_ … _**fine**_ _…"_

His voice cracked on the last word and it only made Cody want to embrace him tighter. But… there was a certain protocol to be adhered to. One Cody didn't feel his General would want him to break, even under such unusual circumstances.

_Especially under these circumstances…_

So, instead, he tightened his hold on the trembling Jedi's shoulder, over which his arm was slung.

"I know, sir. I know you will."

"Don't…" Obi-Wan managed between shaky breaths. "I would appreciate it if you could make sure Anakin doesn't find out about this."

A tight smile turned up Cody's lips. "About what, sir?"

It was only when his general returned it with a sad, grateful smile of his own that Cody truly started to believe his own words.

 _You'll be just fine, General Kenobi._ He squeezed a little tighter, reminding his general that he was there for him. He would _always_ be there for him.

_You'll be just fine._


End file.
